Respect diverse holidays with e-learning courses
Did you know that very specific holiday references in an eLearning course can unintentionally exclude learners who don’t observe the same holiday? If holidays are expressed under a single cultural lens, it can show that the course is built for some people more than others. So how can you avoid this in an online classroom with a global reach and diverse audience? The key is to carefully build holiday inclusivity into your offering. Use this festive period as an opportunity to review and reevaluate how holiday elements are used in your courses to maintain a positive learning environment for everyone all year long.
Why holiday inclusivity matters
Historically, seasonal curriculum design choices often focused on the most prominent holidays in a region, inadvertently excluding content for learners who did not observe those holidays. Although this practice is becoming less common as there is a growing global focus on personalization, it is still important to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past. It all comes down to design choices tailored to your specific audience.
If you choose the holiday inclusive route, the benefits are obvious. Recognizing learner identities and cultural practices contributes to better outcomes, deeper engagement, and a more collaborative learning environment. Inclusive celebratory habits also help build empathy and stronger, more meaningful communication and collaboration.
Of course, to avoid mistakes, it is necessary to explore different holidays in relation to the culture’s specific worldview, society and community concepts. This is to enable learners to consider how symbolism works, what values holidays carry, how they relate to identity and history, and ultimately avoid reproducing superficial or tokenistic representations.
Finally, if you have too much material to cover and not enough time, you can always choose to spread holidays out of your course entirely instead of choosing specific holidays. Neutrality is still an inclusive option in this context, as it does not spotlight a single holiday by default. Let’s look at some tips for holiday inclusivity that combine both of these approaches.
Tips for creating eLearning courses that accommodate a variety of holidays
Learn about your learners
It’s always good practice to learn more about your learners so you can tailor your offering. Use polls and surveys to ask learners about their holiday preferences and whether they observe them. Do they welcome celebrations in the classroom, or do they prefer neutrality? This will give you data to make informed decisions, which is always better than assumptions.
Make language and images inclusive/neutral
Language and imagery shape learners’ perceptions of the learning environment, so it’s paramount that they are expressed in a respectful manner. When referring to holidays in course materials, use inclusive/neutral language rather than assuming that everyone celebrates the same holidays. When it comes to images, create visuals that reference nature, light, or abstract patterns and avoid implying that one holiday represents all learners. Even small design choices have cultural meaning, and this can have a big impact on learners’ sense of belonging to the course.
Choose examples and scenarios carefully
Holiday-themed examples, scenarios, and case studies are engaging and can add great value to your eLearning offering, but there are things to consider before choosing what to include. If all the examples are based on one holiday, the learning can feel narrow, biased, and exclusive. You can avoid that and go the holiday-inclusive route by presenting examples that rotate across multiple holidays and traditions, or that focus on universally relevant themes. Overall, it’s important to provide content that is both educational and respectful.
Let’s share our culture voluntarily
Learners bring valuable cultural knowledge. Invite children to share festive traditions to enrich the learning experience and encourage peer communication. Structured cultural exchange promotes empathy and reduces bias, especially when learners draw from personal experiences. Make participation voluntary and avoid asking learners to reveal personal information. Some people may like to discuss their traditions, while others may not. If they don’t want to share, create an environment where learners feel their choices are respected by incorporating alternative activities of equal learning value.
Prioritize flexibility in every aspect
Your learners may or may not celebrate different holidays, and they may follow traditions that are unfamiliar to you. Time zones may differ. The festive season can have a different impact on their responsibilities, schedules, and obligations. They may observe holidays of different times or different durations. Need we say more about why flexibility is essential to holiday inclusivity?
As mentioned earlier, designing a course around a single holiday can inadvertently signal that holiday to be the default. A more comprehensive approach is to use a seasonal or thematic framework that is flexible in interpretation. Additionally, schedule flexibility should be a top priority. Asynchronous participation, extended deadlines, or alternative assignment formats are great ideas for structuring your service so that external engagement doesn’t become a barrier to learning for your learners. And your course will not be an obstacle to their celebration.
Additional considerations to keep in mind
global calendar
Not all holidays are included in the Western year-end calendar. Granted, it’s not realistically possible to redesign your eLearning course to properly celebrate every holiday, but you can show awareness by recognizing these events in your course calendar. Even a short announcement or pop-up message can make a difference in fostering holiday inclusivity and appreciation for your learners.
Avoid tourist approaches
To achieve true holiday inclusivity in the classroom, we must avoid “tourism curricula” that focus on food, flags, and festivals and do not address deeper cultural aspects. To achieve true inclusivity, eLearning courses must present a wide variety of holidays without distilling their meaning or reducing meaningful cultural symbols to decorative graphics.
health support
The holiday season can amplify stress and create negative experiences for learners. Recognize the emotional aspects of the season by sending short check-in messages or updates on online support services that are accessible during the holidays or throughout the year. Remember that whether your learners are feeling “fun” or not, it’s important to show that you support and empathize with their experiences.
Alternative activities for learners who do not observe holidays
Finally, some learners may not celebrate holidays during this or other seasons. Therefore, you should offer some activities that are not related to holidays. For example, reflective or research-oriented tasks, cultural learning activities, and creative projects allow all learners to meaningfully engage with eLearning courses without feeling pressured to not observe specific holidays.
Aiming for inclusivity beyond holidays
This list of tips is by no means exhaustive, but it shows that promoting inclusivity on holidays is essential and as practical as possible. Even if you don’t participate in a specific celebration, the holidays are more than festivities, they are opportunities for introspection, knowledge sharing, creativity, and connection. Create your eLearning course accordingly.
